Most of the WWF masked wrestlers in the ’80s were forgettable

All this hype about the WWE debut of Mexican masked superstar Sin Cara (formerly known as Mistico) has made me remember the great masked wrestlers in the WWF in the 1980s.

Oh, wait a minute, there really weren’t any.

Sure, you had the Masked Superstar, who main evented against Bob Backlund, who was a good worker, but I don’t think he’s a masked legend. Superstar kept his mask on as Super Machine, and then traded the mask for face paint as Ax in Demolition.

Mil Mascaras is indeed a masked legend, but his appearances in the WWF were rare, and he was never really pushed.

Then you had the Conquistadores, who thrilled old and young alike in their golden suits. The Conquistadores (played by longtime jobbers Jose Luis Rivera and Jose Estrada) actually almost won a 10-tag-team Survivor Series match in 1988, lasting until the end before the Powers of Pain (Barbarian and Warlord) beat them.

The Spoiler, who was decent wrestler best known for walking the ropes (similar to what Undertaker later did), had a brief stint in the WWF, but never really went anywhere.

Let’s not forget the jobber wrestlers with hoods, like the Executioner, the Black Demon, and Mr. X, who was referee Danny Davis under a mask (Davis usually did double-duty at house shows, wrestling as Mr. X and then later officiating).

And then you had the Killer Bees, who were Brian Blair and Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell. Their gimmick, which was actually pretty cool, was that they would only don their bee masks toward the end of match, usually to switch out a team member when the ref was preoccupied. The idea was good, but their striped tights were lame.

2 comments

There was a jobber in a mask called the Menace. I remember seeing him on TV ONCE. The Conquistadors could have been GREAT if given more of a push. People still talk about them today. They sure did have the experience and the talent. You are right the Spoiler didnt stay around too long, but he was believably dangerous. Masked Superstar could have been a great WWF Champion. It’s true that masked wrestlers seemed to NOT be the WWF/WWWF speciality. There were a few different Executioners in the early 1980’s, one was clearly Baron Mikel Sicluna. He one a few matches, then dissapeared. You have a valid point.